It was never effortless to love Aaron Warner. He was a difficult teenage boy who seemed to forget a lot of the time that that was what he was-a teenage boy. He'd always felt that loving or even caring for him would be impossible for all the world to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
IT'S MORNING NOW, and Juliette and I decided to wake the boys in an. . .interesting manner. A fun way, since they've been making fun of us for way too long.
I shake Jules awake. "Hey," I whisper. "Come on, get up."
She rubs her eyes tiredly. When I get a good look at her face, I notice she's been crying.
Frowning, I gently help her get to her feet and ask, "What happened? Why the tears?"
She sniffles. Shakes her head and mumbles something like she can't tell me.
I sigh sadly. Whoever hurt her deserves a punch in the face. She's way too sweet for her own good. "Juliette, you can tell me." I know we've only been friends about three weeks, but I feel like we've never been closer. Like we've been friends forever.
She sobs softly. "A-Adam and I-I-I"—A trembling breath—"broke up—"
Oh. My heart cracks a little for her. Even though I've always believed she deserved better than a guy who's a dick to anyone around her, she really loved him.
"Oh, Juliette," I say, and pull her in for a hug.
We stand there for a while, just holding onto one another. It feels good—hugging for real. Kenji and Isaac are always so damn hesitant to hug, it's annoying. Plus she's fully covered anyway so we're good.
"Hey," she says, pulling away. "We can still wake them up right?"
I chew my bottom lip nervously. "I don't think so. Especially if you're so upset—"
"I'm gonna be fine," she assures me. "Please, Mara. I need something that'll cheer me up."
My speciality. My lips tug up and I shrug. "If you say so."
We chuckle, grab everything we need to surprise the boys, and open the door, jumping when we see James standing right in front of us. He's smiling brightly, clearly happy.
I start laughing. "You're on time."
He lifts up his own water pistol. "Of course. I would never miss this."
——————————
I nod to James, whispering when I say, "Go."
He opens the door, immediately laughing as Juliette and I follow after quickly, screeching and turning on the light. Not long after do the boys wake up—all three of them—and begin gasping and swearing loudly as they try to shield their faces. We continue to spray them with water pistols, laughing maniacally in the meantime.
